It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness

The phrase “it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness” is a very slight alteration on the less common Chinese proverb “'Don't curse the darkness - light a candle.” The advice given is “if something is wrong, do something about it rather than complain.”

However it could be a bad thing. Some readers of the more suggestive newspapers would be ill advised to take action on what they believe to be a problem. After all, it is probably better to blame everything on the Immigrants, than to chuck them all out. Perhaps it should be added that “if it is night, and most people are trying to sleep, please don’t light a candle because the minority wants to read”.